Posts tagged ‘Popayán’

As the Blizzard of 2013 bore down with full fury on New England, my world in Colombia was rocked as well. Just as I was stepping from the shower I suddenly felt a very strange vertigo and my feet became unsteady. Within moments I realized it wasn’t something physiological but rather seismological — an earthquake was underway! I quickly grabbed my clothes and headed for the stairs as hanging lamps swayed above me and books fell from shelves in the lobby.

It was over in 40 seconds. Everyone in the hotel was atwitter, the receptionist was on the phone calling family, she said this was highly unusual. I headed out to the colonial streets of Popayán and found people standing around, wide-eyed and waiting. We didn’t feel any significant aftershocks. Soon people got back to business and the city returned to normal.

I later learned that the temblor was no small incident, registering a whopping magnitude 7.0. The epicenter was just outside the town of Pasto, a pleasant provincial capital city where I spent the night two days prior. Fortunately there were no major injuries or damage but the quake was felt in the capital Bogotá 500 miles to the north and through much of Ecuador to the south.

Apparently this wasn’t my first earthquake as my home in Maine is subject to several small ones each year but are rarely felt. But this one — golly gee! — it literally almost knocked me to my knees. How astonishing to feel the colossal force of rupturing earth as it shakes, rattles and rolls over hundreds of miles.

It was my first real earthquake. I’m just thankful that there isn’t any shoveling as a result — snow or stone!